Out of the Darkness
by SGJunkie
Summary: It wasn’t the fact that Ianto held him even now, covered in the spilled blood of his friend, his lover. It wasn’t the even the light kiss he felt planted into his hair that made his eyes well up with tears that were long overdue. Jack/Ianto


There was more blood than he would've thought possible under the circumstances, the crimson liquid still warm as it trickled away and blended with the murky waters of the underground sewer system. A single ray of light from above illuminated the shadows around them as Ianto sat against the cold concrete wall, Jack's body held tight across his own as it too grew colder by the minute.

_-Just another weevil_

Jack had said, confident in his assessment of the situation, and itching to get his hands dirty since so far it had been a particularly slow week.

_-Me and Ianto can handle it_

That was fine until the 'weevil' they were tracking doubled back on them. The hunters became the hunted. It all went downhill – very steeply and in a sports car – from there. The creature had finally caught up to them in the sewers, which Jack had promised could lead them back to the hub where backup and more weapons were waiting. Ianto trusted him, it was just a shame that neither of them had thought to bring a compass or a map.

They were finally backed into a corner with only a few bullets left between them; so far those hadn't been doing them much good either. So what they really needed was a compass, a map and maybe a flamethrower. The blade the monster drew from God knows where, was a surprise and they were now definitely under armed.

Both men took a few superficial injuries at first and the violence seemed to just spur the thing on. When Jack turned to look at him, with a look in his eyes that was partly an apology for what he was about to do and only a few final words did he grin and take a running jump at the alien. The knife sliced through the side of Jack's neck with an ease that was scary but with the forward motion of his body the two went tumbling backwards into the shallow water at their feet. With one hand on the arm that held the knife and the other secured around it's neck Jack took his last breath as he watched Ianto empty his gun into the ear cavity, one of the only places that wasn't armoured in thick leathery skin.

Ianto watched as the creatures blood poured from its skull, bits of brain matter floating on the surface, washed away with the rest of the sewage. It took all his remaining energy to separate Jack from the monster and drag his lifeless body to the side where it was relatively dry and he could slide down the wall until his arse hit the ground.

He knew that jack wasn't technically dead, or at least he wouldn't be for long but he couldn't help himself when he found his hand going the laceration on Jack's neck and applying pressure as if that would help now, when the chest he clutched so close no longer moved which each breath. The blood was still warm as it leaked through the cracks in his fingers, flowing away when all Ianto wanted to do was shout at it 'no' because Jack was going to need that.

Ianto had only ever seen it happen once and that first time had been a shock, he knew Jack had died a few times since but that was theoretically really where he couldn't watch, couldn't feel the 

body getting colder. So he sat in silence, in the dark, the single ray of light from the surface that cast shadows on Jack's face that lay so close to his now. The face that was so familiar in the time they'd spent together and Ianto had to strain to keep his emotions in check. He wasn't gone, he wasn't. The thought became a mantra in his head until he was clinging to that thought just as much as he was Jack's body.

It was the same darkness. Sometimes he thought he belonged here, lost to the dark like the rest of them. It had taken him a century and a time lord to make him realise that if he had eternal life then he should live it not brood over things that no-one could change. He always arrived here with no recollection of how he'd died and no sense of time, he'd never measured the time it took for him to come back from this place. He didn't really want to know.

Life like death was painful, that first sharp intake of breath like breathing in tiny shards of glass. He had long since realised why newborns were brought into this world screaming their tiny lungs out. The fragments of memory that came slamming back home, forced to re- live his final moments that were unwelcome reminder but always present. Unlike the soft voice that whispered to him.

_-It's okay Jack. I've got you. I've got you. You're okay._

An endless litany of words as strong arms rocked him back and forth. He knew that voice and the arms that held him close now.

_- Ianto?_

_- I'm here, I've got you_

It wasn't the actual words that got to him. It wasn't the fact that Ianto held him even now, covered in the spilled blood of his friend, his lover. It wasn't the even the light kiss he felt planted into his hair that made his eyes well up with tears that were long overdue. It was because that in over a hundred years no-one had sat holding his lifeless body in their arms waiting for him to take that first breath, even when he was surrounded by spectators in the travelling circus he always woke up alone. Ianto Jones had changed that and it was a feeling that overwhelmed him with the simplest emotion when he realised that he loved that man.

_-Thank You_


End file.
